Motivating College Students from Inside Out

Professors can teach emotional intelligence concepts and activities to college students to boost motivation

It’s 8:00am in Professor Samuel’s calculus class and the seats are full of community college students. What made those students get out of bed so early to attend? What keeps them coming back and what motivates the students who are getting top grades? Could it be the scintillating way the teacher talks about math, or is it something else related to emotional intelligence?

These are the questions that education and psychology researchers have been trying to answer through numerous studies and many arrows are pointing to high emotional intelligence as a predictor of success.

As someone who teaches first and second year students in a community college, I have often wondered what motivates the students who seem eager and excited to learn to every day. They seem to bubble over with ideas and contributions. Is it just ambition? Or is there something deeper going on inside?

They not only engage with the material and discussions, but they seem to be having fun! Dialog and participation seems to give them even more energy and enthusiasm, and fellow students are inspired by them and want to get to know them outside class as a result.

The need for relatedness is in play here. We humans are biologically wired to connect socially, especially in our prime reproductive years. But what about the shy students, or the students who do the work, but do not seem particularly interested?

How do we understand what is driving their motivation and more importantly, what can instructors do to help students move from amotivation to intrinsic motivation?

Competence, Relatedness, Autonomy: Three Basic Needs

Intrinsic motivation to learn entails engaging in learning opportunities because they are seen as enjoyable, interesting, or relevant to meeting one’s core psychological needs (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

According to self-determination theory, all people seek to satisfy three inherent psychological needs: the need for developing competence, the need for relatedness (creating meaningful connections with others), and the need for autonomy (perceiving that one is able to initiate and regulate one’s own actions) (Froiland,Oros, Smith, & Hirchert, 2012)

Given the educational system’s focus on grades and teacher and parental approval as rewards for learning (extrinsic motivation), how can college students enter their freshman year intrinsically motivated? How can teachers support the development of intrinsic motivation? Did you show up to your freshman year knowing why you were there? I certainly didn’t. I spent the first year like a bee in a garden, buzzing from one class and one major to the next. It took time to really own my future path and use my education opportunity wisely and intentionally. With college fees and student debt on the rise, it’s no wonder fear and insecurity about the future are driving some decisions.

What distinguishes the students who come in fired up and ready to work hard from those who are dragging into class late and not turning in assignments in week two?

In his paper he states, “Motivation can fall anywhere on the continuum from amotivation (lack of the intent to act), to extrinsic motivation (seeking to avoid punishments and gain external rewards), to introjected regulation (studying or behaving well because one feels pressure from within), to identified regulation (recognizing the importance or value in developing a behavior or skill), and finally, to intrinsic motivation (behavior motivated purely by the inherent benefits) (Deci et al., 1991; Ryan & Deci, 2000).

So what can teachers do to facilitate movement of students along this spectrum from blasé to fired up and on task?

At Six Seconds, we assess emotional intelligence using eight competencies, and one of them is intrinsic motivation (IM).

Six Seconds also has a grants program used by many faculty and students in higher education. The grants consist of non-competitive awards for researchers to use our emotional intelligence assessments at minimal cost. We have an option to customize, by adding university logo on a letter describing the grant process for any university that would like to send this out to their students. http://6seconds.org/tools/grants/

Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and communications professional, editor, producer, and writer for effective outcomes. Ms. Goodman has been a radio producer for much of her career, specializing in short features and documentaries. Some of her work includes Southern Songbirds: the Women of Early Country Music, Pastures of Plenty: A History of California's Farmworkers, and The Boomtown Chronicles: Reflections on a Changing California. Ms. Goodman teaches journalism at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County. Her goals are to facilitate positive change in the world through effective communication, and to continue conducting her work with the highest level of integrity possible.

1 Comment

carey vickers
on February 27, 2018 at 7:41 pm

I believe a student is motivated by the need of ones self ,the belief that he or she can achieve the goal they set out for and by applying what they know by being around the proper guidance .When a person has a divine plan and the passion to obtain what it is they seek to conquer nothing or no one can stand in the way . Students should be questioned why they intend on doing what it is they set out to do and be installed with not extrinsic motivation but intrinsic motivation

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